Every single day
by SaraTheSpy
Summary: Gibbs and his team arrest a CIA agent for murder and think that this will be the end of the case, but they're wrong. When CIA director Sara Reese shows up and demands to work with them to prove her man innocent, Gibbs knows he's going to have a very difficult day. And with a dangerous drug dealer as their enemy, the case gets a lot more complicated.
1. Strong opponents

Summary: Gibbs and his team arrest a CIA agent for murder and think that this will be the end of the case, but they're wrong. When CIA director Sara Reese shows up and demands to work with them to prove her man innocent, Gibbs knows he's going to have a very difficult day. And with a dangerous drug dealer as their enemy, the case gets a lot more complicated.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS and the characters from the show but Sara Reese is of my own creation. She is an Original Character that was also used in my stories for Criminal Minds.

Chapter 1- Strong opponents

"You know, McGee, I've always been wondering what Gibbs' love life was like before we met him." Dinozzo said. It was a really boring morning in the office, and he felt like there was nothing better for him to do.

"I think it's none of our business, Tony."

"Come on! Don't tell me you've never wondered! We know he's worked with people from other agencies in the past, and there are some really interesting women in the FBI!"

"McGee is right. It's none of your business." they heard Gibbs say. As always, he showed up at the exact moment they were talking about something they didn't want him to hear. "We have a murder case. Follow me." he ordered and left the room without waiting any longer.

Gibbs drove to the crime scene, which was the dead marine's house. He couldn't forget what Dinozzo had said. It was just his agents' childish games, but still, they reminded him of things he didn't like to think about. What his love life had been like before they met him… Apart from his ex wives that they knew about, there were a few other girls. One, in particular, was really unforgettable, both in a good and a bad way. Of course, it had been a long time since he last saw that girl, and he really wished he'd never see her again.

At the crime scene, they started collecting evidence and Ducky reported that time of death was around 10 pm last night, about 12 hours ago. Cause of death was a large stab wound to the chest, while there were multiple smaller ones.

At some time, Gibbs noticed a beautiful young woman looking at them. She was standing outside the door of the marine's apartment, and she was smiling at him.

"Do you know her?" Gibbs asked his agents.

"No." Dinozzo said. "But I can certainly go and talk to her, if you want."

"Do your job, Dinozzo. I'll take care of the girl."

The older agent got up and walked towards the woman, who kept smiling. He was starting to get really annoyed. He didn't like people who smile all the time for no reason, especially when they're looking at a crime scene. What exactly was there that she thought was funny?

"Can I help you?"

"No, actually, **I** can help **you**. I have information you need."

"Go on, then. Tell me. I don't have much time."

"Don't worry, it's rather simple. I saw someone walk out of the house at around 10 pm last night."

"You can describe the man to our sketch artist, then."

"Don't go!" she said when he turned his back to her. "There was something else about that man. He was tall and he had a gun with him. He certainly looked like a killer."

"We'll know for sure when we investigate further." he said and left without giving her any more of his precious time. He didn't have time for beautiful young women. He had a case to solve.

The team returned to the NCIS headquarters to continue investigating the case. While they waited for the sketch of their suspect, Ducky called Gibbs and said that he had found something. Gibbs was surprised. He knew Ducky was good at his job, but he didn't expect him to find something interesting in less than half an hour.

"I made a mistake." the medical examiner admitted.

"What kind of mistake?"

"About the cause of death. It wasn't the stab wound. As soon as I took our victim here and had a more careful look at the body, I realized he was poisoned."

"That means the marine was stabbed while he was already dead. This was a hate crime."

"Yes, that's what it looks like."

Gibbs told his agents about the news he had learned, and not a long time later, the sketch artist came and left a piece of paper on Gibbs's desk. He took it, looked at it for a moment, and then turned to his team.

"We have a really big problem."

"What's wrong, boss?" Dinozzo asked.

"The man that our witness described… He's Ryan Sismond, the deputy director of the CIA."

McGee and Dinozzo looked at each other, without believing what they had just heard.

"What are you waiting for, McGee? Trace his mobile phone. Tell me where he is."

McGee was not really sure that he wanted to mess with the CIA, but then he thought that Gibbs would be protecting him. His boss was way scarier than any spy, and he was totally sure that there was nothing to be afraid of. After all, if their suspect thought he had the upper hand, Gibbs would not hesitate to break it.

McGee found out that the man they were looking for was at a hotel, not very far from the NCIS headquarters.

"Dinozzo, come with me. McGee, look for any piece of information that could help us in interrogation. Find a reason why our suspect hated the marine. Find his weaknesses." Gibbs ordered.

"Don't we need a warrant for arresting him, boss?"

"I already have one, McGee."

With that comment Gibbs left with Dinozzo following right behind him and McGee thinking that, as long as he had Gibbs to protect him, nothing could go wrong.

Tony and Gibbs went to the hotel and asked to see the deputy director of the CIA. Five minutes later, a tall man with expressionless gray eyes approached them, looking as though he didn't have time to play. Well, so did they. That meant that this would certainly be a hard battle.

"Ryan Sismond? We're agents Gibbs and Dinozzo. NCIS. We want to talk to you."

"About what exactly?"

"You were seen exiting George Clark's house yesterday at 10 pm. This morning he was found dead."

"I have nothing to do with that. I went to his house, but he was alive when I left."

"We can talk about this at the NCIS headquarters. Follow us."

Gibbs showed him the warrant, and the man followed without saying anything. He was sure he'd find a way to get out of that situation, and he didn't want to cause a mess at the hotel and see his face in the news the following day. He always found a way out. The only problem was that he really had no idea how strong an opponent he had this time.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, someone had just heard about the arrest, and she wasn't at all happy about it.


	2. A really unpleasant meeting

Chapter 2- A really unpleasant meeting

"You say you didn't kill the marine?" Gibbs asked Sismond for the 10th time.

"That's what I said before."

"He owed you money, though. A lot of money. And that was a good reason to kill, right?"

"Look, agent Gibbs, I haven't killed Clark. We weren't exactly what you'd call best friends, but I'd never kill someone. Believe it or not, I'm not that kind of person."

The two men looked at each other for some seconds, as though they wanted to prove to each other that they weren't going to back off. Gibbs's glare didn't have the effect it had on other people. Under normal circumstances, this glare would be more than enough to get a confession. On the other hand, Sismond had been trained to make other people be afraid of him, but this time it was different. Gibbs wasn't a normal opponent.

Suddenly, the door opened with a loud noise and they saw a tall woman standing there, wearing a black suit and an expressionless stare. It was the exact same look on her face that Gibbs remembered from the last time he saw her. It was nothing. No expression, no feeling, nothing. She was just standing there, looking at him, and he immediately knew that this was going to be one of the worst days of his life, one that he was definitely not going to forget.

"Gibbs! I demand that you tell me what's going on here."

"Reese? I suppose you know you don't have the right to break into the interrogation room any time you want and interrupt me."

"Rule number 22, isn't it? Never ever bother Gibbs in interrogation? Well, you don't have the right to arrest my agents without informing me. There's rule number 16, in case you forgot."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw McGee and Dinozzo look at each other with strange looks and whisper to each other. They were wondering how she knew Gibbs's rules. Most importantly, however, they noticed the threat that was hidden in her last words. She thought she had the upper hand, and threatened to break Gibbs's hand. That was serious. Nobody they knew had ever tried to challenge their boss in such a way.

"I actually think I do have the upper hand, considering he's suspected for the murder of a marine."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He dragged her by the arm, outside the room, and closed the door behind him. He avoided making eye contact with her, which made her wonder, considering he wasn't afraid of anything and anyone.

"The dead marine, George Clark, owed Sismond quite a lot of money, and had even asked for more. Sismond was also seen exiting Clark's house around the time of death yesterday. That's enough for arresting him, I believe."

She thought about this for a while. To her, that was an unbelievable story, and she had heard a lot of unbelievable stories in her carreer. "Sismond is not a killer. I know him, and trust him with my life." She stopped talking, wanting to leave some time for her words to sink in. "But since you think otherwise, we'll investigate the case together to find out."

"Why would I let you join the case?"

"First of all, you have one of my people here, therefore I have the right to join. Not to mention that I can make your life very difficult, and you know it."

Not responding to that last threat, he opened the door and went back to the interrogation room, leaving it up to her to assume that he could make her life difficult, too. Gibbs gave Sismond another one of his death glares. Reese wanted to kill him for treating one of her best agents like that, but she held it back.

"Tell me what happened, again."

"I already told you twice! I met Clark because he wanted to tell me that he'd be able to give me the money he owed within the next month. Then I left. I don't know what happened to him after that."

"Oh, you really don't?"

"I'm telling you the truth."

"You've been trained to make me believe you're telling the truth even when you're not, though. Why would I believe you?"

"Just shut up, Gibbs." Reese interrupted him. "For one thing, you can see that he's not going to admit commiting the crime, whether he did or not. You're also breaking rule number 16, bend the line, don't break it. Well, sure thing you've long ago broken it."

Since interrogation didn't pay off, their next step towards finding the killer was assigning McGee to look up the dead man's phone records. There was one person that Clark talked to almost every day, and that man was Charles Smith. They found the man's address and went straight there.

"Who is she?" Dinozzo asked Gibbs on their way to the house.

"She's Sara Reese, the director of the CIA." he answered as though he didn't want to discuss it any further.

"Do you know her from somewhere?"

"Why don't you go ask her, Dinozzo?" his boss replied, putting an end to this conversation.

The house was quite large, in the middle of a garden. There were a lot of different flowers and plants, but they looked like they hadn't been taken care of for a long time. Generally, it looked like nobody cared for the house.

Nobody answered when they knocked the door, so they had to break it. They called out the owner's name but they got no response.

"Reese, Dinozzo, check downstairs. McGee, follow me!" Gibbs ordered.

"Do you know Gibbs from somewhere?" Dinozzo asked as soon as he had the chance.

"It's a long story, agent Dinozzo. Why don't you ask your boss?"

"I already did, and he told me to ask you."

"Well, then tell him to look at rule number 45."

"Clean up the mess that you make? That's one of the emergency rules, in case you don't know it."

"I know. Relationships with Gibbs have always been emergency situations."

Before Dinozzo had the time to say anything, they saw a person lying on the floor of the living room, severely wounded. They got closer and found out that he was Charles Smith, and he was still breathing.

"Call an ambulance!" Reese shouted at Tony while she tried to stop the bleeding and save Smith, the only person that could help them solve the case. They couldn't afford to lose their only suspect.

After the ambulance arrived and took the injured man to the hospital, Gibbs told them all to go upstairs to see something he had discovered. Under Smith's bed there was a large supply of drugs.

"Looks like our marine was in much more trouble than we thought." Dinozzo commented.

They needed all the information Smith could give them, because this case was getting more and more complicated, but right now he was unable to talk to them. They wanted to see what the evidence from the crime scene could tell them. Abby was not done with analyzing them yet, so they went home for the night and visited her lab the next morning.

Before heading to her hotel for the night, Reese visited the morgue to see the dead marine for herself. She had seen the photos from the crime scene, so there was no actual need for her to see the body up close. However, there was someone else she wanted to see, and that someone was alive, fortunately.

"Hello, Sara!" Ducky greeted with a smile, a smile that always made Gibbs wonder what exactly is there that makes him happy about seing her. To Gibbs, that woman was just an annoyance. To Ducky, she was something more.

"Hello Ducky!"

"So, what brings you down here?"

"I wanted to see the body of the marine for myself."

"Ok then…" he said and showed George Clark's body to her. "But I think there's something else. Tell me, what's going on? I can see that you and Jethro can't stand being around each other for long."

"You know the story, you know how we broke up! What do you expect me to do?"

"One of you has to break rule number 6, and you know he won't ever make the first step."

"Really? Just so you know, neither will I. I'm not young and reckless anymore, Ducky. I'm tired of begging him."

With those words, she stormed out of the room, not being angry with Ducky, but rather with herself.

When Gibbs went home after work, he saw Ducky waiting for him there. The two men had a drink and the medical examiner could clearly see that something was bothering his friend.

"What happened Jethro?" he asked after a while.

Gibbs took a large sip of his drink. "Sara Reese has thousands of agents that she could have sent here, and she could just make some phone calls and have her agent released. She came here herself, however, and I know she just wanted to cause me trouble."

"She cares about Sismond. They're good partners."

"Still she could take care of things without having to leave her office. And Dinozzo started asking questions about our relationship."

"Yes, Anthony can be a little bit curious. What did you tell him?"

"I told him to go ask her. I don't know what she said."

"I don't thing she wanted to discuss it, either. When I saw her, she seemed cold to me. She's not the twenty year old agent she was the last time, and she's much harder to handle."

"I can do it, I assure you."

"Are you sure? Because I see that you can barely stop yourself from shooting her."

"I won't kill her, Ducky. I want it, but I won't. I'll just finish with this case and send her home. This is no different than any other case."

Gibbs wanted to show no emotion, but Ducky wasn't quite convinced by his friend's last words. Ducky had known him for years, and he knew Sara Reese, too. None of them was willing to make peace. If they weren't going to be friends ever again, Ducky felt it was his job to at least prevent a war.

Gibbs and Reese walked into the elevator the next morning and stayed in the same small space for two minutes without killing each other, even though they really wanted to. It seemed that their discussions with Ducky the previous night hadn't changed anything.

When Abby saw them together, she smiled. Unlike McGee and Dinozzo, she and Ducky knew the whole story.

"Nice! I see you two are…"

"We're nothing, Abby." Reese cut in. "Not any more."

"Tell us about the evidence." Gibbs said, wanting to stop a conversation that would surely end in a very awkward way.

"Ok, then. Well, the poison that was used to kill the marine was not a common one. It's a special chemical substance that's exclusively used by a single factory in the world." Abby reported.

"Where is this factory?"

"You're lucky, it's nearby. I can give you the address."

They thanked her for the information, took McGee and Dinozzo and headed straight to the factory. They demanded to see the owner, and after half an hour of negotiating with his secretary, they were finally allowed to meet him.

"Good evening, mr Johnson. We are from the NCIS and we want to talk to you."

"Tell me. I don't have much time."

"First of all, do you know George Clark?"

"No, I have no idea who he is."

"He's a marine, and he's dead. He was killed with a substance that's used exclusively by your factory."

"I have nothing to do with this."

"Nobody said you do." Reese said. "Can we see your scientists now?"

"Of course. Maybe they know something that could help you."

He told them where to go and left them on their own. On their way to the lab, the four agents talked about the case.

"I don't like him." Reese commented. "When we walked in, he seemed pretty relaxed, and two minutes later he told us he didn't have much time."

"Not to mention that he tried to protect himself by saying he didn't do anything when, in fact, we never accused him of anything." Dinozzo added. "Yes, he's suspicious, boss."

The head scientist offered them a far warmer welcome than his boss. He was one of those people that are very pleasant to be around, always smiling with his charming smile but not to the point that it gets annoying. He seemed to get along pretty well with all the other people that worked in his lab, and they respected him while a friendly atmosphere was also present. It was almost like the ideal workplace.

"It's true that a small amount of this substance was missing when I came here three days ago, but it was so small that it wasn't worth mentioning. I didn't want to report it, I wanted to find the thief myself and have a discussion with him without anyone else knowing." the scientist said when they told him what they wanted.

"Did you find out who took it?" McGee asked.

"No, but I tried. Two people in the lab were talking about your dead marine, George Clark, in a way that meant they didn't like him at all. I talked to them because I thought a murder might have something to do with the stolen substance, but they denied having anything to do with the case."

The agents thanked the scientist for the information and went to have a conversation with the two men.

"Hello, agents. Can we help?" one of the men asked casually, like everything was fine.

"Yes. Your boss said he heard you talking about George Clark, and two days later the marine was found dead."

"We have nothing to do with this. Clark owed us money, and all we wanted was to have our money back. We'd never kill him."

They left after that, having no actual reason to stay at the factory. The two men seemed strange, but not enough to be arrested.

"Clark was in deep trouble if he owed money to so many people." Dinozzo said when they went back to headquarters. "What did he want to do with the money?"

"I did some research and he hasn't bought anything expensive recently." Reese answered. "He hasn't bought a house, or a car, and he doesn't have a family to take care of. I think that he took money from all those different people because he wanted to give it all to someone else. Maybe it has to do with the drugs at Smith's house."

"So you suggest that there was blackmailing?" Dinozzo asked.

"Yes, I think so. As you said, he was in deep trouble."

"If Smith wakes up, maybe he'll be able to tell us something useful." Gibbs said.

"I'll call the doctor and ask if we can visit Smith now." McGee offered. Five minutes later, he hung up the phone and looked at the rest of the team. "The doctor said we'd better wait, he's still a little bit weak."

Gibbs started walking towrds the elevator without saying anything.

"The doctor said he's still weak, boss!" McGee shouted, even though he knew that his boss had clearly heard what he had just said.

"I heard you, McGee, but we have a case to solve. If the dead man was so desparate to give the money back, whoever he owed to must be scary. We may have to do with dangerous people. We can't wait."

The young agent didn't say anything else, understanding that his boss was right.

When Reese started walking toward Gibbs' direction, he really wanted to shout at her. He wanted to get rid of her but she never seemed willing to just leave him alone. He could go to the hospital alone, and that's why he didn't ask for someone to go with him. As she had decided she was going to go, though, he couldn't do anything else. She was just an annoying co-worker that was going to be around only for that case. He was supposed to never get personally involved in a case, and that also meant to not get personally involved with fighting his annoying co-worker.

Smith was awake when they arrived at the hospital and didn't protest when two agents walked into his room and started asking questions, which was unusual for a guy who had such a dirty past.

"George Clark was murdered and you had been talking to him frequently before his death. Give us a really good explanation for that." Reese demanded.

"I don't know anything!"

"You say that you're innocent?"

"I am!"

"Then why did you have drugs under your bed?"

"I'm not saying anything else without my lawyer."

"Oh, yes you are…"

They looked at him for a while without talking, waiting for him to admit that he was lying. He looked back at them, obviously aware of the fact that they knew he was lying, but he kept his arms folded and didn't say a word.

Reese went closer to him and whispered something in his ear. In half a minute, he had confessed and told them everything they needed to know.

"What did you say to him?" Gibbs asked her once they were done.

"Probably the exact same thing you were about to say." She said and got in her car without saying anything else.

 _She said we were thinking about the same thing._ Gibbs thought to himself. _No, we aren't the same. Her way of thinking is completely different than mine. I hate her. I really, really do hate her._

 **This was the second chapter, finally! I hope you like it!**

 **To answer the review I received, I'm still not sure if I'm going to use Ziva in this story, but I think I'll just have her appear in the next chapter and help the team in their investigation.**


	3. Not a team anymore

Chapter 3- Not a team anymore

All the agents gathered at the MTAC to be informed about the new evidence. Finally, they had found something useful.

"The marine owed money to a drug dealer." Gibbs began. "And then the drug dealer made Clark work for him when Clark said he didn't have the money."

"The criminal, however, was disappointed, because the people Clark took the money from were beginning to put more and more pressure on him. Sismond was a trained spy and had started to suspect that something was wrong. In an attempt to destroy the evidence, the drug dealer had one of his men kill the marine." Reese continued.

"This man was Charles Smith. Once the drug dealer saw that we were about to get to him, he asked someone to kill Smith. The problem is, we don't know who the drug dealer is."

"How will we find out?" Dinozzo asked.

"We'll start from the scientists. Smith didn't have access to the lab, so he must have had help from someone who has." Reese answered.

"Wait, didn't Smith tell you who gave him the poison?" McGee wondered, confused.

"Look, agent McGee, it's one of those organizations where people don't ever get to see the one they're working for. Smith just met with someone who gave him orders and said they were from the boss. That someone gave him the poison, but he didn't get it himself."

"Can't we find that person and interrogate him?"

"Smith couldn't remember enough details in order to describe him to us. The only thing we have is interrogating the scientists." Gibbs said. "We'll ask the head scientist to call all of his co-workers at the conference room of the factory, and say that he wants to talk to them about something random. Then we'll close the doors and we'll have a crazy night interrogating about five hundred people."

The head scientist offered to help them without thinking twice. He was a nice man that understood their need to find a solution to this riddle, so he didn't want to make things even more difficult for the four agents.

The three NCIS agents and the director of the CIA were waiting at the factory for everyone to gather, but it seemed to be taking forever.

"What's going on? Weren't they supposed to be here an hour ago?" Dinozzo asked. He was annoyed because everyone was there except for the head scientist.

Gibbs and Reese looked into each other's eyes for a minute, thinking about Dinozzo's question. Then, at the same time, they ran towards the exit. The other two agents tried to follow them, but they couldn't, because their boss and the director of the CIA had already left, taking the car with them.

Reese called her people from the CIA and asked them to tell her the scientist's location. "He's at the airport, his flight is in half an hour." she reported when she hung up. "We can barely make it there."

"Where is he going?"

"Egypt."

They reached the airport and got out of the car in a hurry. They ran towards the enterance and quickly showed their badges to the guards. Once they were in, they ran up the stairs to the second floor, only to see that the plane the scientist was in had just taken off.

They looked at each other, tired from running and disappointed for losing. They said nothing. After some minutes of desparately looking for something to say or do, they gave up and just got in the car and drove back to the NCIS headquarters.

Gibbs called Abby and asked her to take care of everything. She booked the tickets for the next flight to Cairo and informed Vance that an agent was going to go in a different country for a mission.

He got in the elevator and Reese followed right behind him. When he saw her, he pressed the button and the elevator stopped.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"What are **you** doing?"

"Exactly what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you coming with me."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Means that I'll not have you around me in this one. We go on separate ways from now."

"You know that I could go to Vance right now and he'd get you to accept me, but you damn well know I'd prefer to work on my own, too. And so do you, regardless of rule number 15. Do you remember, Gibbs, we used to work as a team long ago."

"I don't need **you** to teach me my own rules. Now turn around and go away. I have my own business to do."

He pressed the button again and the elevator started moving. She got out, leaving him on his own to go to Abby's lab. Gibbs gathered his team members and they got ready for the mission. Reese returned to the CIA headquarters, more than happy for finally getting rid of Gibbs. That didn't mean that she was abandoning the case, however. There was a danerous american drug dealer in another country, and it was her job to go after him. And she also wanted to prove Gibbs what she was worth.

"Hey, boss, where is Sara Reese?" Dinozzo asked when he realized she was not there.

"I told her to leave. We're going on an undercover mission overseas. I don't want her telling us what we do wrong all the time. We'll do it our way, she'll do it her way."

"You mean that she's going to go after the criminal, too?"

"I'm sure about that. She'll go only so that she can do better and then laugh at us for failing. But we're not going to do her the favor and let her do better."

He was determined to prove to her that she wasn't always right. That comment she had made about working together, didn't touch him. He didn't care. After all, the last time they worked together was a long time ago. It didn't matter anymore.

Did it?


	4. Things don't go as planned

Chapter 4- Things don't go as planned

The two teams of agents, from the NCIS and the CIA, arrived in Egypt and each of them found their own people there. Those people told them where the criminal's base was, so they went straight there.

"We're going to pretend we're drug dealers." Gibbs told his two agents before the mission began.

"The CIA agents are going to do the same. Aren't the drug dealers going to suspect us if two teams of people offer to work for them the same day?" Dinozzo questioned the plan.

"No. This scientist has such a great love for money, so any offer that will bring him money is welcome."

Indeed, as soon as the criminals saw the three men approach their base, they were ready to accept any offer they had. The agents showed them some drugs and said there were more of them that they could bring. The criminal invited them to stay there for the night, without even recognizing them. Abby had done a very good job in helping her friends with their disguises.

Later that day, the head scientist called them all for dinner. The CIA and NCIS agents recognized each other but didn't speak. They had to pretend that they didn't know each other, and Gibbs really wished that was true. His life would have been way better if it was true.

"You know, I like all of you" the criminal said at some time. "Maybe you could work together. You know, maybe you could bring me better stuff if you cooperate."

The agents were shocked. Working together was the last thing they wanted, but it seemed that they had somehow ended up having to do it. They were supposed to be working for that guy, and doing what he thought would make them more efficient would hopefully earn his trust enough to give them the chance to catch him. Because if he wasn't satisfied, he wouldn't hesitate to harm them in ways they couldn't even imagine.

Cooperation worked pretty well, except for that part where Gibbs and Reese exchanged their usual death glares. They had started to earn their enemy's trust and, after being undercover at his hiding place for a week, the agents decided to put their plan into action.

They were supposed to bring a new supply of drugs to him. Gibbs picked only one agent, Reese did the same, and they left the rest of their teams behind. They returned with their cars supposedly being full of drugs, while in fact they were empty. When they were about to show the criminal what they had brought, Gibbs attacked him from behind.

They started fighting. During the battle, someone shot the tires of the car that was next to them, so the NCIS and CIA agents had to run through the whole yard and reach the other cars that were parked there. They passed next to dead bodies and at least twenty people that were willing to do anything in order to kill them, but they couldn't stop running.

Not very far from where the cars where and with a very few enemies left, Reese saw an enemy aim his gun at Gibbs' head. She wasn't at all sure if she could shoot him from her possition. With a deep breath, she abandoned her cover. She covered the short distance between her and Gibbs, pulling him to the ground while she shot the criminal three times on the head. Before she had the time to celebrate her victory, however, she felt a bullet penetrate her left leg.

Gibbs wrapped his arm around her shoulders and helped her get up. They ran as fast as they could to the cars, and both of them sat on the back seats.

Gibbs found a soft towel and pressed it on the wound to stop the bleeding. It almost made her think he cared. After all this time, maybe he still cared. Maybe both of them were breaking rule number 10.

The moment they got into the car, McGee and Dinozzo looked at some gas barrels, then at each other, and they realised they were thinking the same thing. When the car was at a safety distance, they shot the barrels and set the whole building on fire.

They went to an american military base nearby and found a plane to take them home. The plane landed in Washington and would then take off to take the rest of the agents to Langley. McGee, Gibbs and Dinozzo walked out and Reese followed them.

"Where are you going?" one of her agents asked her.

"I have something to do here, I'll meet you later." she answered without really caring to explain, and then headed straight to the hotel room she had booked while she was there for the case.

After taking some time to have a shower and wear a clean suit, she went to Gibbs' house. The door was unlocked, as always. She took a deep breath and walked down the stairs to the basement, which was painful to her due to her injury.

"What do you want here?" he asked with an abvious sound of hostility in his voice.

"I want to talk. I'm tired of hiding."

"Say it and leave, I have a job to do."

"Gibbs, you can't keep on denying it. I saw the way you treated my wound before. We think the same things! Can't you see it?"

"See what?"

"Why are you doing this to me? Why does it always have to be so hard?"

"Because they're after me! They'll destroy everything in their path to get to me!" the calm tone was replaced by an angry one, but also filled with pain.

"Look, I know people you cared about died and you blame yourself for that, but…"

"I blame myself because I **am** responsible!" The pain in his voice was now covered by complete rage.

"I'm the greatest spy in the world, I can protect myself! And if I die, I don't care! I just need to be with you!"

"This is getting too emotional. Leave. Get out of here, now!" he yelled.

"Don't you understand, our enemies want us to be separated, because together we're strong! When we are united, nothing can beat us!"

"Go. To. Hell. What is it that you don't understand?"

"Fine, I'm going. But you should know I love you. You used to, too."

Sara Reese went home that night, leaving Gibbs on his own. They thought they wouldn't have to see each other in their lives, but, well, sometimes things don't go as planned. Two days later, early in the morning, the director of the CIA got a phone call from Dinozzo.

"Our enemy is alive" the senior field agent announced. "And Gibbs has gone to Afghanistan in order to find him"


End file.
